The God of the Bible

We began a series of messages last Sunday, “Digging Deeply.” The first part of this series is where we are, “Digging Deeply into the God of the Bible.” The Bible is many things – God’s inspired Word, a lamp to our feet and a light to our pathway, etc. One of the very important things about the Bible that I was taught years ago is that the Bible is “God, self-revealing.” The Word of God is the place where God chooses to tell us what we need to know about himself. The Bible truly is the source when it comes to defining, understanding, and knowing God.

Throughout the years, people have made many misguided attempts to refashion and redefine God. They will sometimes frame it, “My God is a God of ____,” or “My God would never do ______, or ______.” In Genesis, God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” One of the biggest errors than can be made is when human beings undertake to re-make God in the image of people. It is so good to be able to come back to the Bible and learn of the God we are introduced to in its pages.

I wanted to provide three quick examples for your consideration of the need to dig deeply into the God of the Bible rather than rely on the shaky views of others:

Lewis Smith sent me the link to an interview with actor, Harrison Ford. The entire interview was a wide-ranging interview. When the conversation turned to God, Ford indicated that he appreciated the advice of Paul Tillich who said, “If you have trouble with the word ‘God,’ take whatever is central and most meaningful in your life and call that ‘God.'” Harrison Ford went on to say, “I don’t have any religious construct, but I think nature and God are the same thing.” With all respect to Harrison Ford, nature and the God of the Bible are not the same thing.

I never saw the movie, Out on a Limb. I have seen, and perhaps you have, too, a famous clip from that 1997 movie. In this clip, actress Shirley MacLaine is standing on the seashore facing the ocean. Her arms are outstretched and she shouts at the surf, “I am God. I am God.” She is far from the only person who would assert that they are their own God. We can be quite confident that this is not the God of the Bible.

Bette Midler recorded a song in 1990, and I can recall when it was quite popular on the radio. It actually has a pleasing melody musically. The song is called, “From a Distance.” One of the lines of the song says, “God is watching us. God is watching us. God is watching us. From a distance.” The notion there is this idea from what they call “Process Theology” that God set the world in motion and then completely removed himself from it. He watches from a distance and does not and is not capable of intervening. Again, this is far from the God of the Bible who loves us with an everlasting love, knows number of hairs on our heads, and intervenes in our lives and the affairs of people with regularity.

The God of the Bible is amazing. He is personal, loving, creative, faithful, holy, and wise. He is Sovereign, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and infinite. He is mighty, loving, appropriately wrathful, wondrous and gracious. He is deep in wisdom and lovingkindness and is worthy of all glory. Very importantly, he comes to us as our Savior God.

Don’t settle for anything less than the God of the Bible.